Look After You
by AB24
Summary: Day 6, based on a scene we were cheated of where Chloe would have given Jack Audrey's file. Written for a LiveJournal fic prompt titled Cry. JackChloe, some spoilers. Title taken from Look After You by the Fray


Chloe looked down at the file she held in her hands and sighed, telling herself to stop procrastinating and get it to Jack liked he'd asked 15 minutes earlier. She'd been anticipating the moment he would learn of Audrey's fate all day, following Bill's orders to keep her mouth shut, and not entirely against her will. He deserved to know, she had thought to herself, but she couldn't bear the idea of being the one to tell him. She could barely carry on a non-work related conversation with him as it is without stumbling over her words and sputtering out sentences she'd replay in her head and cringe over repeatedly, let alone break truly awful news to him about the woman he loved. She didn't know who had finally told him, and she wasn't going to ask. Finally standing up from behind her workstation, she took a breath and set her eyes on the corridor that led to CTU's medical wing as she walked determinedly past the other stations.

"Excuse me," a feminine voice called from behind as Chloe stepped off the floor into the long hall. She turned and unknowingly scrunched her brows, wondering what Marilyn Bauer wanted from her, or why she was even still at CTU.

"Yes?" Chloe answered, coming to a standstill as the older woman brushed a short piece of raven-hued hair from her face and prepared to speak again.

"Chloe, right?" Marilyn answered, a couple of chattering analysts passing by them en route to the floor and averting Chloe's eyes for a minute.

"Yeah, that's right. Can I help you?" Chloe replied, unsure of how she knew her name. They hadn't been introduced, and this was the first time they had spoken.

"Well," she began, "I was with Jack a little while ago, and he was...he was having a hard time, and he left before I had a chance to ask where he was going. I was wondering if you knew where he was."

"Well, he's in our medical wing, but if I were you I'd probably give him his space," Chloe replied. "He didn't know about Audrey until just a few minutes ago, so yeah, he's having a hard time."

"I know," Marilyn quickly replied, foiling Chloe's half-turn away. "I'm the one who told him what happened."

Again Chloe's brows furrowed before she had the chance to stop them. "Okay," she answered blankly, deciding to bite her tongue on this one. "Um, look, I have to get this file to him now, so I'll tell him you were looking for him," she muttered before turning and heading back down the corridor, somehow disappointed that Jack had to learn of Audrey's fate from somebody he undoubtedly hadn't spoken to in years. She quickly shrugged off the thought, knowing it didn't matter who told him or how he found out - the Jack Bauer she was about to encounter wasn't going to be the same one she had worked alongside and grew close to during the years since he'd hired her at CTU. China made sure of that. But losing Audrey, she feared, would damage him in ways he may not be able to, or willing to even try to, recover from.

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Looking through the door's clear glass as she clutched the file ever tightly in her hand, Chloe watched as Jack, holding his side in response to the pain that was centered where his ribs had been hit, leaned his forehead against the similarly clear wall that stood opposite of the bed that a lesser person would have been curled up in. Her other hand fell from its grip on the the door's handle when his shoulders began to tremble, slowly at first but quickly growing into a shake so painful Chloe felt a sharp twist inside of her own chest by just watching him. The look on his face was one she had never seen before, and the tears that were turning to sobs left her at a loss for what to do. Surely, this file would only make things worse, and besides, she was sure she was one of the last people he wanted to intrude on his moment of release.

But, as strong as her knee-jerk reaction was to run, she also wanted to be there for him, in whatever awkward, inarticulate way that she could be. He deserved a friend right now. He needed a friend right now.

She waited a few moments until his tears had eased and his shoulders relaxed, and with a deep breath, she took hold of the door handle again and pulled it open.

He turned from the wall when he heard the movement, quickly sniffing and drying his eyes with his sleeves as he tried to regain his composure. "Chloe," he sighed, meeting her eyes as she stopped a few steps away from him.

She offered a wordless, sympathetic half-smile and extended the hand that held Audrey's file. "Here."

He looked down at the bland colorless folder, hesitating to reach for it. A few seconds passed before he finally took it from her hands, muttering a quiet thank you as he did. She let go of the document and could see the tears still lingering in the corners of his eyes. Suddenly the backs of her own eyes were stinging.

"Jack?"

He looked up, and immediately her eyes fell away as she opened her mouth and tried to speak through her heart. "I'm...I'm sorry, Jack," she said, her voice cracking as her eyes welled up and threatened to spill over.

With a look of wonder on his face he watched as she tried to fight her tears. One small drop fell onto her cheek, and he reached out to her and pulled her into a tight embrace that she quickly sunk into. "Chloe, what is it?"

"I'm sorry," she choked as he caressed her hair from its roots to its tips , "I just don't know what to say." She rested her head against his shoulder let a tear soak into his shirt, feeling more than a little bit ridiculous that he was the one doing the comforting, but also savoring the feel of his arms around her and his heart beating against hers. Even in his weakness he seemed to carry a strength that nobody could rival.

He pulled away and took her face in his hands, wiping away some of the moisture from her blushed cheeks. "Chloe, why are you crying like this?"

She sniffed and pressed her lips together, shying away from his eyes as she replied. "I hate seeing you like this, Jack. I hate it because you've already been through so much and now you have to go through this, too. And I really wish there was something I could do, but I can't and that bothers me."

"That's why?" he whispered in response, his eyes shining with both new and old tears.. She looked away, embarrassment threatening to set in before she found herself being pulled back into his arms. The file still lingered in his grip as he held her as closely as he could without inflaming his ribs, her tears retriggering his own as he buried his face into her shoulder and allowed himself to take in the comfort he found there. She felt a slight tremble travel through his body as he began to cry into her shoulder, and the hand that had caressed her hair now gripped it inside of a fist. His pain was contagious, and she felt more and more of it with every labored breath he took. She could only hold him in response, somehow free of the anxiety proximity to him usually caused and instead at a state of calm she hadn't been anywhere near since this day had begun.

Meanwhile, outside of the room, Marilyn watched the pair as they held onto each other, recalling wistfully the days when she used to be the one he turned to for comfort. Those days hadn't lasted long, but she never forgot them, and all of these years later, she still wondered what their lives would have been like had not outside forces placed them on different paths. Jack was a dream, her most prized dream, but a dream to her nonetheless. Her blank expression gave way to a small smile as she stepped away from the door. She was glad he had somebody there for him that he trusted and valued in return. It wasn't her, but then how could she have expected it to be.

Inside the room, Jack finally drew back and cleared his throat, leaving an invisible trail of tears in the dark fabric that covered her shoulders. He smoothed away a few strands of hair from her face and said softly, "You've done more than enough for me, Chloe. More than I should have ever expected. But this is out of your control. I've got to deal with this in my own way, in my own time."

Chloe reached up and started to dry his eyes before the door opened behind her and a doctor stepped inside. "Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Bauer, but we need to get started."

Jack nodded and they parted, Chloe sniffing and wiping away what she knew had to be smeared mascara from under her eyes before he spoke again. "Thanks again for the file," he whispered She nodded and looked into his eyes one last time before turning for the door. He watched her until she had disappeared from his sight, when his gaze reverted to the file in his hand and the truth that awaited inside.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as she turned a corner and back into the corridor, only to be stopped again by Jack's sister in law, who had been waiting for her to emerge.

"Chloe," Marilyn called as Chloe reluctantly came to a halt in front of her.

"I really need to get back to work, if you don't mind," Chloe replied, stopping long enough for Marilyn to ask her question.

"I'm sorry, it won't take long. I just wanted to ask how he's doing."

"Not good, okay?" Chloe snapped, immediately cringing as soon as she heard the tone of her own voice. She took another breath and muttered begrudgingly, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Marilyn replied. "I know everyone's under a lot of stress. I'll be out of your hair soon, but I just wanted to make sure he's okay here before I leave."

"Well, he'll be fine, so you can leave whenever you feel like it." Again she cringed.

There was a silence, and Chloe stared at the floor before Marilyn spoke again. "You and Jack are really close, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess," Chloe replied with a shrug.

She smiled. "He's a really special man. I'm glad he has someone to look after him. Take care of him for me."

Chloe watched as Marilyn walked away, those being the last words she expected to hear from her, or anyone, really. But words paled in comparison to the emotion her heart had swollen with during those few minutes with Jack, away from the world and inside of his arms, where she had so easily shared his pain and tried to take on some its burden for him, with barely enough time in between to notice. She could have stayed there inside of his hell and never bothered to look back, and maybe someday, by some small miracle, she would. But for now it was back to her own hell, inside the chaos that awaited her at the end of the corridor and under the harsh lights of reality.


End file.
